Mario Tennis Aces: More like Duces

I rarely have anything bad to say about Nintendo games, but this game is one of the few that really left me disappointed. The inclusion of a story mode generated hype, but after a few hours of playing it, adventure mode is extremely shallow since you're doing the same stuff over and over again with gimmicks being changed (although the boss fights are pretty unique at least). Don't like adventure mode? Then your only other options are multiplayer local or online play. That's it. No mini-games, no gimmicks like items ala Mario Kart (some courts do have hazards but it's still regular tennis regardless)nothing. Oh, there's tournament mode too, but playing it online is for bragging rights and playing the offline version against the AI is just as boring. Oh sure, there's commentary from the two Toads watching the game, but they spout the same slightly randomized phrases over and over. Even if you win a tournament against the AI, you get jack shit. You don't even get a victory ending animation like you would have on the N64 and GC versions! What gives, Camelot? It's like someone sucked out their creative soul! Oh, I nearly forgot about the online for this game because it's that forgettable. You can either do a tourney or play with others in a singles or doubles game. Like with everything else, you get no rewards or the like for playing online. The stability of the online is a crapshoot just like it was in the demo and if this is how Nintendo's online will be when the subscription service comes, then count me out.

You can barely customize your games when playing locally or against the AI. Games are either 2 games 1 set or first to 6 points. What happened to the rest like 2 games 5 sets? Why can't we have those? Not only that, but you can't even freaking choose what court you want to play on! Well, you sort of can, but you have to turn off every court you don't want to play on, which is dumb as hell. We can't even give our characters alternate outfits or change how their rackets look. Looking at my data, the game only takes up 1.9 GB on my Switch, which basically means this game has nearly NOTHING going for it and could have fit as a GC game instead. Maybe there will be future DLC, but until such a time comes, forget this game unless it gets a sale or price drop. I feel so cheated buying this game.

I bought it and the last Tennis I owned was 64. There sure is a lot less, but the gameplay itself is solid. I look at a purchase like this as more of a play against friends/my kids game. The same way I look at fighters. It’ll be fun and once it isn’t it’ll be twenty dollar kindling for my next game purchase.